Disparate Youth
by Melody The Superhero
Summary: Rory meets a young girl named Melody Cartwright, in Leadworth Hospital and she begins to remind him of someone... And, no, she isn't really Melody Pond or a daughter of River/11. Oneshot. I do not own Doctor Who, all credit goes to the BBC.


**A/N: First Doctor Who story. I'm not sure how it's going to work out, but it was originally **_Anastasia Dove's _**idea. **

**As it says on the summary, it's set between **_A Good Man Goes to War _**and **_Let's Kill Hitler_. **Also, my character, Melody, is not a timebaby or the actual Melody Pond. Her name just is Melody and as you'll see, her last name is Cartwright, not Pond. **

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy, please leave a review and tell me what you think!**

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Disparate Youth

Everything looked the same to Melody as she glanced around the hospital, with worry bubbling up inside her. All the walls were the same pale white, dirtier than slushed up snow. Everyone who made their way past, usually carelessly rushing, was dressed in blue scrubs and was carrying clipboards and had stethoscopes around their necks. Of course, there was the odd exception of someone visiting a friend or relative, but in this ward, the looks upon their faces tended to be so mournful and grief-stricken that Melody found it best to not let herself notice them. As Melody dazed in and out of consciousness, she could hear the vibrant and constant beeps of heart monitors coming from other patients and the worried shouts from the doctors and nurses, as they rushed her down the corridor and into a ward.

She'd been in and out of hospital since she was five, but each time it only came to be more frightening. Each visit, was just another reminder that she could die at any second. Though doctors had told her that it would be incredibly unlikely that her death would be so sudden, she still had an inkling that she would die when others least expected it to. Herself, however, never let her guard down. She knew all to well that anyone could die at any given moment, but she also knew that her life was much more likely to come to an end.

Because of this, she treated everyday as if it was her last. Even the days where she felt fine and could run around and dance, she never fell out or argued with anyone- unless she couldn't help it- and incase she died in her sleep, she always said goodnight to her parents and her younger sister and would plant a kiss on their cheeks. She would also text her friends and two older brothers telling them how much they meant to her. Just incase.

As she tried to keep her breathing constant with aid of the oxygen mask strapped to her face, she couldn't help but think one thing. Was this it? Would this be the final time she would be raced through a hospital to be revived? Had the morning been the last time she that she would see her parents and sister? Had the lunch break that had taken place twenty minutes before her sudden cardiac arrest, been the last time that she had seen her friends? There were far too many questions and things that Melody wanted to know, but she also knew that if the answer was yes, she wouldn't even realise it.

There was the chance that this wouldn't be _it. _However, then it would just be another time that she would collapse on the floor, either at home or at school, and suffer agonising, pulsing pains across her chest. It would just be another waiting game. And for Melody, it was a game that had been going on long enough.

Then, for a split second, Melody thought the game was over. Not knowing whether she was right or wrong, she was whipped away into a possible eternal darkness.

X-X-X

The world seemed blurry for a few seconds, but that wasn't what mattered. What mattered, was that there was something. Melody just wasn't sure whether _something _was a good thing or a bad thing. She hadn't been brought up into a religious family, but she had often wondered whether there was a god. At first, Melody had used it as a way to comfort herself when she thought of death, seeing as she knew it could spring upon her at anytime. However, as time went on, Melody had began to wish for there to be nothing. If she would go into some type of afterlife, she would be unable to speak- maybe not even see- her family and friends. That, for her, would be hell. Even if she would be in heaven.

After a few blinks, the pixelated dots of grey, iridescent colour fuzzed into one and things became clear, as if she were looking through a window. Her body was just one limp ache, echoing throughout her veins and muscles and her head was pounding, nearly as hard as her heart was hammering in her chest. She was used to feeling her heart beat again and again, so hard that it felt as if it had the power to rip itself through her chest. The rest of her body seemed to be numb, whether the pain had been there and had now faded, Melody couldn't tell. She did, though, wish that the limbs which she couldn't feel where in pain. She needed constant confirmation of life to be able to believe that she was alive.

"Melody?" a voice said," Can you hear me?"

Out of the corner of her brown eyes, which had lost their shine long ago, Melody saw a man standing next to her, pressing buttons on a screen, which showed red and green, uneven zig-zags. As many of the people, who Melody first saw when she woke up did, he wore blue scrubs and had tufts of light brown hair, which was sticking up without the help of gel, by the looks of it. After turning back to face Melody, she also noticed his blue eyes... and a rather bulbous nose.

"Can you tell me your name?" he asked.

"Melody," Melody whispered, through her dry throat," You just said it."

"Middle and last name, too, then," the man said, rolling his eyes.

"Isabella Cartwright," Melody replied, hoarsely.

"What about your age?"

"Thirteen," Melody replied, getting her breath and energy back. She also noticed the pain in her body fading, as well as the numbness," Why are you asking me all these questions?"

"To see if you can remember them."

"Why? A heart attack can't cause concussion or amnesia can it?"

"Well, it's good to see you can remember what happened," he told her nodding," Can you remember anything else?"

"Er...I was at school," Melody began, casting her mind back to her last memory," We were doing tennis in P.E, when I fell on the floor and had a heart attack."

"Well, it certainly is a good sign that you remember what happened," the man told her, writing down some notes on his clipboard.

"Why? I had a heart attack a couple of years ago and they didn't ask me any of those questions then," Melody remembered aloud. She watched as the man before her, frowned and began to give an expression that he wished he could be anywhere else," What?"

"Well, you were in a coma. You have been for seven weeks," the man answered, solemnly.

"Oh," Melody responded after a while.

"I know it can be quite a shock..." the man began.

"No, it's fine," Melody replied. She was indeed shocked, but didn't want to show it. After all, she hadn't known she'd been in a coma. And it wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Well, the fact that she woke up from one was.

"Anyway," the man said, after a few moments," I have to go and see other patients, but a doctor will come and check on you in a few seconds."

Melody raised her eyebrows at him, realising soon after that it took away over half of the energy she'd just gained back.

"You aren't a doctor?" the teenager asked.

"No, I'm a nurse," he shook his head," Nurse Rory Williams."

X-X-X

"You know, I have a daughter named Melody," Rory told his patient, after examining her and asking her questions regarding her health.

It was the evening next day and Rory was working the night shift. Melody Cartwright had been the first patient on his list, which he needed to check up on and strangely enough, he had been glad. Though all her vital signs didn't say she was perfectly fine, she did look a lot better than she had the previous day. Her face had a bit more colour- yesterday, she'd been whiter than a ghost- and she was able to sit up. Well, she had to have help to get up, but once she was up, she was able to support herself perfectly. She'd been smiling too, however her brown hair was still slightly messy, as she hadn't been able to wash or brush it.

"Really?" Melody asked, raising an eyebrow and Rory nodded in reply," How old is she?"

"Just a baby; nine weeks," Rory answered, feeling a pain of grief stab him like a knife. Technically, it wasn't a lie, seeing as it had been nine weeks, since Demons Run. However, Melody Pond could be out there anywhere, any age.

"Aww, I'm sure she's cute," Melody smiled.

"Yeah, she is," Rory grinned, in thanks, remembering the last- and first- time he had seen his precious, baby girl.

"Is your wife at home looking after her?"

Rory's smile quickly turned into a frown at the thought of his wife, who was still at home stressing over the whereabouts of their daughter. Knowing he couldn't explain to the situation about his daughter with his patient, he quickly smiled back and nodded, then changed the subject.

"What about you? Do you have any brothers or sisters?" Rory asked.

"Two older brothers, Daniel and Mark, who are twenty-one and nineteen and a younger sister, Stephanie, who's eight," Melody replied.

"The middle child, then?" Rory asked.

"Sort of. One of them, anyway," Melody shrugged.

"Have they visited you yet?" he questioned.

"Mum, Dad and Mark did. Daniel's in university in Leicester and 'apparently' Steph's too young to come when I'm still 'in this state'," Melody explained, exaggerating the 'apparently' and the ' in this state'," They're coming again tomorrow, at four o'clock after work."

"Well, I'll make sure I check you over before then, so you're not disturbed," the nurse told her.

"It doesn't matter, but thanks," Melody smiled.

X-X-X

Rory arrived at the Leadworth Hospital at one o'clock the next afternoon and made his way into the building, through the door that lead to the locker room. He then hung up his coat and changed into his scrubs and carelessly stuffed his jeans and shirt, into his locker. After changing into his uniform, he made his way to the main reception, so he could pick up his list of patients, who he needed to visit, from the receptionist, Jackie.

"Here you go," she said, in her Welsh accent, handing the clipboard to him. She was a short, middle-aged woman, with light brown hair, which was going grey. Unlike most of the other staff, she dressed in tailored trousers and blouses. She'd worked there for nearly three years and lived in London for nearly twelve, but she still had a rich accent, from where she'd grown up in Cardiff as a child.

"Thanks," Rory smiled, looking down at the clipboard. Like the day before, the first patient on the list was Melody Cartwright, a young girl in the cardiac unit.

The nurse made his way down the corridor and of to the Florence Ward, where Melody was being kept. It was a short walk, no more than two minutes, but walking up and down the corridors all day did get tiring for even the fittest of the nurses and doctors.

Once he arrived at the ward and Melody's room, he pulled back the blue curtains and found the bed empty. Frowning, he began to wonder where Melody was. After a quick check that he hadn't gone to the wrong ward, he looked back behind the curtains, where Melody had been the day before. The bed looked how it did when it was waiting for someone to join it. Had Melody been moved to a different ward? No, there was no way that she could have been transferred in her condition.

Sighing (and still frowning), Rory made his way back to the reception, where he saw Jackie, typing away at the computer.

"Jackie," he began," My first patient, Melody Cartwright, isn't at her ward. Do you know where she is?"

"Melody Cartwright?" she questioned, taking the clipboard from the nurse," Yes, oh, her! She had a sudden heart attack, during the night. Very sad, she was only a young girl."

"So, where is she?" Rory asked, becoming frantic for reasons not even he could answer," Intensive care?"

"What?" the receptionist asked," Oh no, she died, it was about eleven o'clock at night, I think."

"What? But... But she couldn't have. I... I only saw her at eight o'clock last night and she was fine then," Rory protested, in a stammering voice.

"Yes," Jackie sighed," It was very sudden. And so sad. However, this is a hospital and people do die."

"Yes," Rory gulped, turning to leave," Yes, they do."

Instead of making his way to the next patient on the list, Rory trudged back to the locker room and sat down on the bench. He put his head and his hands and breathed deeply. Patients of his had died before, and each time he'd felt an immense amount of guilt, but never like this. What was it about her that had gotten him so upset? Her age? No, patients of his that were younger than thirteen had passed away before. Surely it couldn't have been her name. Her name, that was all it was. It didn't mean anything.

Thinking about the Melody Cartwright, Rory began to think about his own daughter, his own Melody and how Amy and him had lost her. And how they knew she would grow up to be River Song. But it didn't matter who she'd grow up to be. What mattered was who she'd grow up with.

Then, Rory promised himself something. He wasn't going to lose another Melody.

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**AN: I'm not a hundred percent sure on how that turned out, but please leave a review and tell me how you think it went. **

**Random bit of info: My name's Amy and I'm having a daughter in March, who I decided to call Melody! It took me ages to realise the name I'd chosen and the reference to Doctor Who, but when a friend pointed it out to me, it made me like the name all the more!**

**Anyway, thanks!**

**Amy-Jane xx**


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